Magic never materializes in Southeast Missouri State football team's loss to Southern Illinois

Southeast Missouri State trailed visiting Southern Illinois by 11 points at halftime and by 18 points in the third quarter of Saturday's season opener.

That was exactly the situation the Redhawks faced last year, when they shocked host SIU with a stirring rally that helped jumpstart their record-setting campaign.

But there would be no comeback for the Redhawks this time.

SIU was too strong in most areas. The Salukis cruised to a dominant 38-10 victory in front of an announced Houck Stadium crowd of 10,163, the sixth-largest home attendance figure in Southeast history.

"Yeah, you know, we've been there before," senior quarterback Matt Scheible said when asked if he felt another rally coming. "It didn't pan out for us tonight."

Southern Illinois' Steve Strother runs for the first touchdown of the game with Southeast Missouri State defenders Tylor Brock, left, and Philip Klaproth in pursuit during the first quarter Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

While red-clad Southeast fans dominated the landscape, a couple thousand maroon-clad SIU supporters voiced their approval as the Salukis gained a measure of revenge for last year's stunning upset.

"We didn't get done what we wanted to get done," said junior linebacker Blake Peiffer, who led Southeast's defense with 12 tackles. "It's very disappointing for us as players and coaches to come out with that big a loss at home.

"But we'll go back to work and get things corrected."

The Salukis, ranked 17th nationally, have won the past four meetings against Southeast in Cape Girardeau. They have captured five of the past six meetings overall.

"No doubt this was a big game for us," SIU coach Dale Lennon said. "Last year was a big disappointment. We felt we let one get away. It was something we remembered."

Southern Illinois' Jewel Hampton tries to run over Southeast Missouri State's Kweku Arkorful during the first quarter Saturday. (Fred Lynch)

SIU, which returned 14 starters compared to only eight for Southeast, left little doubt Saturday.

"Not a good day at the office," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "We gave up too many big plays. We just couldn't get anything generated early on offense.

"We had our moments. ... Made a lot of youthful mistakes we have to get corrected."

Samuel said he had a feeling the experienced Redhawks would come back following Southeast's 24-21 upset of SIU a year ago.

Not so this time with a largely inexperienced group.

Southern Illinois' Steve Strother runs for the first touchdown of the game with Southeast Missouri State defenders Tylor Brock, left, and Philip Klaproth in pursuit during the first quarter Saturday. (Fred Lynch)

"I didn't have the same feeling because I thought we were making too many mistakes," he said. "It's not the same when you don't have all the experience."

The Salukis scored on the game's second play and piled up a first-half yardage advantage of 208 to 85. Southeast was fortunate to be down just 14-3 at the intermission.

But the Redhawks couldn't seriously threaten SIU after the break. The Salukis put up three touchdowns and a field goal on their first four possessions of the second half to overwhelm Southeast.

"We were trying to score on every possession," SIU junior tailback Steve Strother said.

SIU finished with a total yardage edge of 494 to 261. The Salukis' defense shut down Southeast's rushing attack, the Redhawks' staple.

Southeast, third nationally with an average of 265.1 yards rushing per game last year, managed just 117 yards Saturday. And 91 of those yards were by Scheible.

"We had a game plan to attack the interior of the defense," Scheible said. "They played pretty stout up front."

SIU's balanced offensive attack, directed by junior quarterback Paul McIntosh, featured 254 yards passing and 240 yards rushing.

Three Salukis ran for at least 64 yards, including McIntosh, who completed 14 of 18 passes and connected on several deep balls.

"We had some busted coverages. They capitalized on it," Peiffer said.

SIU scored on the second offensive play when Strother took a swing pass from McIntosh and raced virtually untouched 62 yards. So it was 7-0 just 52 seconds into the game.

The pass was ruled a lateral, so Strother received credit for 62 yards rushing.

"We knew we had to come out here and set the tone early," Strother said. "I guess you can't ask for a better start, second play of the game."

Southeast got a 35-yard field goal by junior Drew Geldbach with 3:03 left in the first quarter. The drive was helped by two SIU personal foul penalties worth 30 yards.

The Salukis went up 14-3 early in the second period on the first of three touchdown runs by junior tailback Jewel Hampton, a transfer from Iowa.

Southeast got the ball to start the second half but was forced to punt. SIU answered with Hampton's 23-yard touchdown run to go ahead 21-3.

That's the same spot the Redhawks were in last year. And like 2010, they answered with a touchdown.

Scheible's 5-yard pass to sophomore D.J. Foster capped an 85-yard drive and made it 21-10 with 6:41 to go in the third period.

Repeat of last year?

Hardly. SIU came right back with a touchdown less than two minutes later on Hampton's 7-yard run.

Lennon said it was important "for the offense to answer as quick as they did."

The answers kept coming. SIU added a field goal early in the fourth quarter to make it 31-10, then delivered the knockout blow when McIntosh hit senior Cam Fuller on a perfect 70-yard TD strike with 8:23 remaining.

"It's a tough game to open with," junior offensive tackle Evan Conrad said.

But while the Redhawks might have been down on this night, Samuel emphasized they are far from out.

"We probably had 14 players play for the first time tonight. It's a work in progress," Samuel said. "We've got good kids. Don't feel sorry for us. We'll be back."